by L M Krier
‘I’ll come over in an hour or so. I have stuff to do here first, and I don’t want Zofia to start thinking she just has to snap her fingers and we’ll jump to it.
‘I got this idea, right.’
Ronnie started talking as soon as Ted walked through the door. She was sitting up on the sofa this time and even turned the TV off herself when she heard him at the door. ‘So you can get the others an’ then you can fix up for me to go somewhere safe.’
‘I told you before, Zofia, that’s not quite how it works. I need to listen to what you’re offering in exchange and evaluate its usefulness to us before I can agree anything for you.’
She scowled at him, looking like a petulant child. ‘How do I know I can trust you?’
‘You don’t,’ Ted told her candidly. ‘So what you need to decide is whether you trust me more than you trust this Big Man, whoever he is.’
He sat down in the armchair opposite her, motioning to PC Harris to take a seat. Like any officer coming and going from the safe house she was out of uniform. No marked cars, no uniforms anywhere near the place in an attempt to keep it anonymous.
Ted got his phone out and put it on the table again to record as he said, ‘But I need you to understand, Zofia, you have to make that decision soon. I can’t go on supporting you staying here in return for nothing at all.’
‘You want to get the others, right? The ones from Abi’s flat. I don’t know all their names. Just nicknames and first names, mostly. But I got this idea of how to fix up a meet wi’them all.’
‘Go on,’ Ted prompted her, when she stopped again.
‘Data’s the brainy one. He has all the ideas. He’s the newest, too. Only turned up about four months ago. Summat like that. Kane’s the one who always goes and gets the gear. We all sell a bit here and there. Data sells the good stuff. In the posh clubs an’ that. That’s new. We never got that stuff before Data turned up.
‘An’ we got this code, like. For if we need to meet up away from the flat. We always meet up in a park. Nowt unusual, seeing a bunch o’teens hanging round in a park. Data checks where there’s no cameras and we meet there.
‘We use about six o’them. Parks. They all got a number. Like, Hollywood is number one. We met there last time I seen ’em all. So next time will be number two. That’s Shaw Heath Rec. So we don’t need to say where we’re meeting, in case anyone else sees the text. Everyone will know.
‘If you give us me phone back, I can text all the others and fix up a meet. Then they’ll all be in the same place at the same time. Up to you to round ’em all up then.’
‘You can’t use your own phone, Zofia,’ Ted explained patiently. ‘I told you we were taking it to see if there was a trace on it, and there was. I can get you a new pay-as-you-go, unused, and you can try from that. There’s always a risk that the others won’t read texts from a number they don’t recognise. There may be a workaround for that, but I’d have to check with the technical members of my team.’
‘I don’t know none of the numbers, though. Not without my phone.’
‘There’s no problem with that. We can easily transfer your contacts from your own phone to the new one. I’ll do that and bring it round later today, so you can put the message in. The same way you’d always message them. I’ll send it later, from somewhere well away from here. Just in case they’re clever enough to trace where it’s been sent from. Now, I’m going to need a list from you of all of the parks, in numerical order.’
She seemed to take him at his word about the risk of being traced unless she used a clean phone, although he knew he was probably spouting nonsense. But she looked suspicious, instantly on the defensive, when he asked for the list.
‘Why? I already told you where the next meet needs to be.’
Ted’s tone was patient as he explained to her. ‘If this Data is as smart as you say, he’s going to be suspicious. He’s not heard from you all week and suddenly you want to meet up. Don’t forget the others might have been meeting while you’ve been out of circulation, so you won’t know which is the right place to ask for the meeting.
‘Even if they haven’t met and you’re right about Shaw Heath, I still need time to check out all the possible locations in case someone decides to change places at the last moment. We’ll only get one chance at doing this, so it has to work. For your sake, as much as ours. Because if this goes wrong for any reason, your friends will know you’ve been talking.’
‘Yeah, but I’ll be safe, won’t I? Witness protection and that? You said I’d be protected if I helped you, and I am doing.’
‘You’ve made a start, Zofia. But I have to show results for what it’s costing me. You need to work with me. So give me all the names of all of the parks, in the right order. I’ll get them checked out, then I’ll come back later today with a new phone for you and we’ll see first of all if you can set up the meeting. Then we can take it from there.’
Ted had parked a couple of streets away so as not to draw too much attention to the safe house, with a lot of different vehicles coming and going. As he walked back to the car, he made a quick call.
‘I shouldn’t be too late home tonight so I wondered if you fancied eating out somewhere? If we can book anywhere decent at short notice.’
‘Hmm, that sounds nice, but it also sounds like you’re softening me up to say you can’t, after all, take the afternoon off tomorrow,’ Trev replied.
‘You know me too well. There’s a chance I may not get away as early as I hoped tomorrow. There’s a biggish op I need to run. I’d rather do it tomorrow then it’s sorted and I don’t have to worry about it on Monday. I want to give you all my time and attention then.’
Trev sounded slightly mollified as he said, ‘It may mean somewhere outrageously expensive, in that case. As you said, as long as we can get in at short notice. But money always talks. Leave it to me.’
‘At least it looks like Zofia’s trying to tell us factual info now,’ Ted told the team when they caught up over takeaways and sandwiches at lunchtime. ‘She’s no way of knowing the rest of them have already met up at Shaw Heath. But we know that from our eye witness, who found the piece of tongue. Which means that the next meet-up should, in theory, be Alexandra Park.’
‘Isn’t it going to make her suspicious, if you change the venue from where she thinks it ought to be?’ Mike asked, emptying two more sachets of brown sauce onto his bacon sandwich, which was already swimming in it.
‘I’ll tell her I’ve done a recce of the sites she told me about and this one would be the easiest one for us, operationally speaking. I’m having to be a bit inventive and bend the truth somewhat in what I’m telling her, which I don’t really like doing.
‘But it goes without saying, this is likely to be our one chance to get the stragglers. Zofia doesn’t know there’s only three left unaccounted for – Data, Sarwar and Lauren – so she’ll want to message all of them. That’s where there’s a risk this could rebound on us, as we don’t know where Kane Lomax’s phone is. If it’s in the hands of whoever killed him and they read the message, they might also turn up.’
‘But if the location is coded, would they know where to go?’ Mike asked.
‘Don’t forget how extensively he was tortured before they killed him, Mike. I’m betting he would have told them everything he knew and more besides, hoping to save himself. I expect they know considerably more than we do at this stage. We need to find a way to get Zofia to message all the others except Kane, if anyone has an idea how we do that.’
Sal spoke up. Working Fraud, as he now did, he was probably the most switched on to mobile phones and their secrets of any of them present.
‘Boss, if you’re really not that bothered about bending the facts to Zofia, there’s a couple of things I would suggest. The first and most obvious is to spin her a yarn that she can’t actually send the message herself because it might give away the location of the safe house. So she could enter the message and then give you the phone to send it
from a more secure location. That way we could simply delete the text to Kane’s number.’
‘I already mentioned something like that, although I wasn’t sure if it sounded feasible. She was a bit suspicious, so if there’s another option, let’s hear it, Sal.’
‘The second thing would be to spin her some technical explanation that as Kane was the go-between with the Big Man, they would have put some sort of a device on his phone as a precaution before they let him take any of the gear away. So if she sends a text to his phone, she risks alerting the gang as to where she is, through that device.
‘Of course either of those would only work if she’s neither bright enough nor techie enough to realise it’s implausible.
‘Well, I can certainly tell her that with a clear conscience. Most of this is beyond me so it all sounds plausible enough to me, and hopefully will to her, too.
‘Right, the thing we need to talk about next is who’s in on this op. I know there’s only three of them likely to turn up, as far as we know, but it’s essential we don’t let any of them get away. Although I need to flag up here that there’s just a possibility that Drugs will want one of them left untouched.’
As various team members started to speak, Ted cut them short.
‘I know, but that decision will be taken at a much higher level and won;t be up for debate. And there could be more of the gang that we don’t yet know about, of course. We need to lift the ones we can, for their own safety, as much as anything else. So I might need to bring you all back in tomorrow, and I’m sorry if that spoils anyone’s plans. It may well be overkill, but I don’t want to run any risk of losing them. Not unless I’m ordered to.
‘It’s likely to be lunchtime because according to Zofia, they like to pick a time of day when there’s not all that many people around. It’s still a bit chilly for people to be having a picnic, so on a Sunday, it should be on the quiet side.
‘We need enough of us to be within reasonable distance to cover each entrance point and we need not to stick out like coppers on a stake-out. Ideas, anyone, please?’
‘Boss, they have a basketball area there. Believe it or not, when I’m not pumping iron, I’ve been known to shoot a few hoops,’ Virgil told him. ‘I’ve even met up with Jo and his sons to do it on a weekend, before now. Perhaps he could even bring them along for this.’
Ted shook his head. ‘I’d rather not run any risks at all with this one, while we don’t really know who we’re up against. But the two of you playing together shouldn’t look that unusual. I can put my running gear on and do a few laps round the park while we’re watching for them. I’m not a sprinter, when it comes to chasing anyone, but I run distance, so I can keep it up for as long as necessary.
‘We’ll need someone to control things from a car nearby. To coordinate and, if necessary, go after any of them who slip past those of us on the ground. Mike, do you fancy that?’
‘I’m never going to live it down, am I? Nearly letting Ronnie slip away. But yes, on that form, it’s probably as well not to rely on me for the catching, unless all else fails.’
‘Sal, I’ll put you in another car on the other side. That leaves us Rob, Maurice and Steve to dot about the place. Surely, between us, we should be able to grab them all, without wanting to tempt fate. The one I’m most sceptical about is Data. If he’s the brainy one, as Zofia seems to think, there’s a good chance he’ll be watching very carefully before he shows his face. Bearing in mind we have no clear visuals on him, nothing on record and all Zofia’s told us is that he’s mixed race. Even that might not be accurate.
‘Zofia, of course, will need to be there or there’s a risk none of them will show. But she could be wired and I’ll tell her exactly what she can and can’t say. Plus she’ll have her babysitter from the safe house to keep an extra eye on her. So fingers crossed.’
‘This looks nice,’ Ted said as he stood aside to let Trev go into the restaurant first.
‘Is that your euphemism for expensive?’ Trev laughed. ‘And is that whimpering sound coming from your credit card, Mr Scrooge? You told me money was no object. It took all my considerable charm, plus speaking Italian, to get us in here. So now I’m going to enjoy the food, and spending some time with my husband. Listening to him grovelling about having to stand me up tomorrow after he promised to take me out, for which this meal is only a down payment. The rest will be extracted when we get home.’
Chapter Twenty
‘Right, Zofia, here’s your new phone back, and you’ve had a couple of replies. Have a look at them now, please, and confirm that they’re from Sarwar and Lauren,’ Ted told her, handing it to her. ‘Remember, don’t reply. You don’t want to give away this location. Then we need to go over a few details about how today is going to proceed. It’s important that you listen carefully, remember what I tell you, and follow instructions at all times. Not only for your own safety but for that of my officers.’
The phone which Ted gave her was the one on which she’d entered the message, under his watchful eye, the day before. Once he’d taken it back to the station, he’d deleted the text to Kane’s phone. If she was sharp enough to check the circulation list when she looked at it, she would spot straight away that his name was missing. He’d left the others. Latte’s phone was turned off and in a police evidence bag. Those belonging to Bethany Hayes and Reece Williams had been taken from them when they were arrested. Ted doubted Zofia was bright enough to think of checking, but he wasn’t taking any chances on this one.
‘As you know, Sharon will be taking you to the park in plenty of time for the meet-up, then she’ll be staying nearby to keep an eye on you. There will be other officers about, some of whom you may recognise. Do not react in any way to any of them, please. That’s very important.’
‘I’m not thick, you know,’ she told him, her tone sullen. ‘I watch this stuff on the telly all the time, so I know what happens.’
‘I’m not implying that you are. This is standard procedure. I’m briefing you in exactly the same way that I will brief anyone involved in this operation. That’s to reduce the risk of anything going wrong as much as I possibly can.
‘First of all, do any of the others drive? Are any of them likely to turn up at the park in a vehicle of any sort? Car, bike, motorbike? It’s essential I know such details so I can cover all options.’
She shook her head. ‘None of ’em has a car. They wouldn’t risk nickin’ one for summat like this either. We don’t take no risks of gettin’ chased by the feds when we have more important stuff to talk about.’
‘Good, thank you. Now, apart from Abigail’s flat, do you have any other premises where you stash things? Like drugs, for instance. Another flat? A lock-up? Anything. Or have you ever been to any other property where one of the others might be living, or staying occasionally?’’
A non-committal shrug.
‘But you must have other premises where you can safely store things. Especially anything of any value. Not just the drugs but personal effects. Things like camera equipment, perhaps.’
He saw her eyes widen slightly at that.
‘Because we know about the porn films that were being made at Abigail’s flat. We haven’t yet found the camera used to make them and we’re very keen to get our hands on it for evidence. So perhaps you can help us with where to look for it.’
She shrugged. ‘Dunno anything about no porn.’
‘Oh, but I think you do, Zofia. The trouble with pixelating faces out and thinking that means job done is that there are other identifying marks which show up on film.’
She instinctively tugged down the sleeves of the hoody she was wearing as Ted went on, ‘It’s not just the butterfly on your wrist, though, is it, Zofia? You have some quite impressive tattoos elsewhere. And they show up all too clearly on the footage.’
‘What, you’ve been lookin’ at porn stuff? What are you, some kind of perv? It were nowt. Just some messin’. Nowt illegal.’
‘I’m a police officer.
Investigating serious crime. And we both know that what went on in Abigail’s flat with the camera running went well beyond “messing”. If you’re expecting me to see you’re protected and no action is taken against you, you need to be fully honest with me, Zofia. It’s not just about rounding up the rest of your friends. It’s about making sure that I have the evidence to get some convictions. And in particular, I want to get to the people behind all of this. The drug suppliers, as well as those dealing with the serious porn, if they’re different people.
‘If anything should go wrong with this operation today and anyone gets away, I need to know where to start looking for them. You’ll be perfectly safe. You have nothing to worry about. Officers will protect you as a priority. But I want to know where any of your friends might head for, if they give us the slip. I need to know all of the other places you’ve been using. Call it a show of faith, if you like. And I need to know that now, before we even think of carrying on with this operation.’
‘Are you sure we aren’t going to need Firearms back-up on this one, boss?’ Mike asked at the start of the team briefing before the planned operation.
It was the first question Jim Baker had asked Ted when he’d phoned him to go over the plans. Ted gave the same answer he’d given earlier to Big Jim.
‘It would be a logistical nightmare to even contemplate for a public park, on a Sunday, when we have no real grounds to suspect anyone present will be carrying firearms. We’ll be in place early. The slightest sign of anything which presents a risk – and I do mean anything – we abort. All we’re interested in for now is to pull in Sarwar, Lauren and, hopefully, Data.
‘Zofia’s given us some more places to look. Squats, mostly. The thought that I knew where the rest of her tattoos were made her uncomfortable enough to be more cooperative. So if any of them do give us the slip, we at least know other boltholes they might head for.
